Leena Eats, Gourmet Communication ... Food, Travel, Gastronomy

********************************************************************************** I’m at Blog Her Food ’09 in San Francisco! So enjoy this post that has nothing to do with it, but is just as riveting. And maybe eat some bacon. Why? Cause you deserve it, damn it. ********************************************************************************** Summer is over, but we are still in the heart of the growing season here in Illinois. My csa overflows each week with a bounty of veggies I can barely get to, and as I plan to move across the country, I find myself wanting to save money as much as possible. So this got me to thinking…what are the different ways to make the most of food you do have? As a regular csa person, I am constantly left with way too much produce that just goes bad, and it makes me feel awful to let all that organic goodness go to waste. But that goes for meat as well. Can I do more with that chicken instead of just roasting it and throwing away the bones? If there is one thing culinary school and growing up with cheapskate parents taught me (love you Mom and Dad!), it is how to get the most for your money when it comes to food. Also? I’m lazy. And crazy intelligent. I tend to use my brain to figure out how I can successfully be more lazy, even with cooking and baking. So if you are lazy too or have kids, here are a few tips I use to get me through the year with more money in my pocket, plenty of food in my mouth, and what is most important to me–more free time. Too much produce? Tip #1 Turn it into a giant soup! Or I love making a chunky minestrone when I’m up to my ears in summer squash and tomatoes, and it freezes well, as do veggie puree soups (my favorite to use is sweet potato or broccoli). Chili freezes like a dream, and is a great spot to unload any extra veggies. Try freezing the soup or chili in ziploc bags laying down, so you can stack them on top of each other and save space. Tip #2 Cook the veggies and freeze them for later. Sometimes, I will steam veggies like carrots or butternut squash, puree them, and then freeze the puree. In the middle of winter, these purees come in handy for a quick soup, a quick bread or even just a boost to your average mac n cheese or polenta (also a great way to sneak veggies into your kids’ food). You can also make tomato confit: I always roast a huge pan of halved tomatoes topped with a little olive oil, s&p, a few smashed garlic cloves and any herbs laying around, like rosemary or thyme. I roast them at a low temp until they practically fall apart, then I freeze them to use later in sandwiches, soups, pasta sauce and pizza sauce. Which leads me to my next tip- Tip #3: Can and freeze like you never have before! Just about everyone has a freezer at their disposal, and for $30-$40, you can get yourself a hot water canner with all the trimmings. If you make a giant pot of chili or soup, freeze it into 1 cup portions for a later lunch or dinner. The same trick works for big meals like chicken enchiladas, lasagna, pasta sauce, etc. Just make a little extra next you cook up a labor-intensive meal and freeze the extra. They make a quick and delicious meal when you feel lazy and don’t want to work. Note–dairy products like milk and cream don’t freeze well, but cheese works okay if it hasn’t melted yet. As for canning, check out this post, this post Tip #4 Get the most out of your organic food. If you are like me, you care about what food you put into your body and how that food was treated before it arrived to you. But if you are also like me (read: POOR), organic produce and meat can sometimes be costly. I figure if you care enough to spend that much money on food, then you should do what you can to get the most of it. Crockpot stock is my favorite way to do this. Whenever you peel your vegetables (mainly carrots, onions, celery, bell peppers, anything that will freeze well), freeze the peelings in a freezer bag. When you have a full bag, defrost the scraps, toss them in crockpot and fill to the top with water and maybe a few smashed cloves of garlic. Turn it on low for anywhere from 5-15 hours (the longer, the better). Then strain out the peelings and discard, cool the veggie stock, and freeze in two cup increments. I use this to make soups, sauces, I replace it for water in rice and pasta, I use it for everything! It just has the most delicious, hearty veggie flavor you can ever imagine. When buying meat or fish, try to buy something with bones so you can use them for stock. For example, I love buying a whole chicken, and roasting it on a Sunday evening for dinner. I take all the meat off the bones and put the entire carcass in the crockpot. Feel free to smoosh or break the bones to make it fit–broken bones make the stock taste better! Then I take some of my frozen veggie scraps, any old veggies in the fridge, and add them to the pot, and fill it up with water. The bones must stay submerged in water. Add a clove or two of smashed garlic, and set on low for anywhere from 10-15 hours (I set it Sunday night and turn it off Monday a.m.). The longer, the better. Then strain all the bits out and throw them away, and let the stock come to room temp. Put in the fridge for two hours or until fat rises to the top and solidifies, then scrape it off (you can save it to cook with!), and freeze the stock in two cup increments lying down. This stock is sooooooo delicious, and I use it to help baste my roasted chickens, for soups, for polenta, for rice pilaf or rissotto, for chili, for sauces…for pretty much everything! Thats all for now, but I promise to share more tips in the future. Happy Gastro friday! ~LTG!